Almost everything we do with our hands, we can say with the action verbs, Put and Take. When we use these verbs, we are usually describing actions with our hands. Put and Take are opposites.

Examples:

  • I put the milk into the refrigerator.
  • I took the milk out of the refrigerator.
  • He has put the computer onto the table.
  • He has taken the computer off of the table.
  • Can you put the DVD into the player?
  • Can you take the DVD out of the player?
  • She put the canvas onto the board.
  • She took the canvas off of the board.
When we use the verbs Put and Take, we usually also say a location.
Put / Take + Object (Thing) + Location

Examples:

  • Could you put the pen onto the table?
  • He took the phone out of his pocket.
  • We put the student into a different class.
The most common prepositions with these verbs are as follows:
put + in, into, on, onto
take + out, out of, off, off of
When we are using the verb put, if we say a location, we usually use into or onto. Many North Americans however just say in or on. If we don't say a location,we usually say in or on.

Examples:

  • He put the CD into the CD player. or He put the CD in.
  • She put the song onto her MP3 player. or She put the song on.
  • She hasn't put the canvas onto the board. or She hasn't put the canvas on.
When we are using the verb take, if we say a location, we need out of or off of. If we don't say a location, we do not say of.

Examples:

  • He took the CD out of the CD player. or He took the CD out.
  • She took the song off of her MP3 player. or She took the song off.
  • She hasn't taken the canvas off of the board. or She hasn't taken the canvas off.
The reason why these verbs are so useful is that we can use these verbs if we don't know or forget a more specific action verb. Put and Take havea very general meaning, and can be used with almost any meaning.

Examples:

  • Could you pour some milk into my glass?
  • Could you put some milk into my glass?
  • The teacher uploaded an MP3 file onto the website.
  • The teacher put an MP3 file onto the website.
  • I washed the paint off of my clothes.
  • I took the paint off of my clothes.
  • The man installed a new program onto my computer.
  • The man put a new program onto my computer.
  • The boy pulled his tooth out of his mouth.
  • The boy took the tooth out of his mouth.
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